2008 Tour de France Results - Stage 17

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2008 Tour de France Results - Stage 17

Everyone knew he would attack. Everyone knew he would go for the victory on Alpe d'Huez!

And he did it: Carlos Sastre won the queen stage of the 2008 Tour de France - after 210 kilometers from Embrun to the legendary finish at the top of Alpe d'Huez the petite Spanish rider was able to celebrate both the victory and the Yellow Jersey, which he took over from teammate Fränk Schleck, who is now second in the general classification.

"What a fantastic team! I’m almost lost for words. They were amazing and both our GC riders and the rest of the guys made an absolutely world class effort out there today," said a jubilant Bjarne Riis after the stage.

Carlos Sastre took two minutes and three seconds on Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel), who was second in the stage in the same time as Andy Schleck, while the other favorites followed 10 seconds later with Fränk Schleck in fifth place.

The day’s result puts Sastre 1.24 ahead of Fränk Schleck, while Bernhard Kohl (Gerolsteiner) and Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) are 1.33 and 1.34 behind "Carlito" as Sastre is called by his teammates. This is the first time in his career that Sastre gets to wear the Yellow Jersey in Tour de France and it was his second victory in the world’s greatest cycling race.

As per usual Sastre was quick to give all the credit for his victory to the team.

"I owe it all to the team. They all worked so hard for me - from Nicki and Stuart on the first mountains to Fabian, Volodymir, Jens and Kurt on the next ones and of course also Andy and Fränk, who not only allowed me to attack early but afterwards fought like tigers so I could get a decent sized gap," said a happy Carlos Sastre after the stage.